Southern (NYSE:SO) Stock

Southern

Southern is one of the largest utilities in the US. The company serves 9 million customers with vertically integrated electric utilities in three states and natural gas distribution utilities in four states. It owns 50 gigawatts of rate-regulated generating capacity, primarily for serving customers in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Subsidiary Southern Power owns 13 gigawatts of natural gas generation and renewable energy across the U.S. and sells the electricity primarily under long-term contracts.

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Southern Company reports 4.9% Y/Y revenue growth to $6.34 billion, beating consensus of $5.88 billion. Kilowatt-Hour Sales up 2.7% Y/Y.

Southern Company Q4: Utility Growth Boosts Revenue, But Rising Costs Weigh on Profit

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U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday after another session of scaling fresh records on Wednesday. Traders await Walmart earnings.

US Stocks Likely To Open Lower After Gaining For 2 Days: Walmart In Focus As Traders Await Retail Giant&#39;s Earnings

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AI&#39;s impact on electricity demand is uncertain with the emergence of DeepSeek, causing confusion among investors and leading to a sell-off in power stocks. Less sensitive ETFs include XLU, RSPU, and GRID.

3 ETFs To Navigate Utility Stock Volatility As DeepSeek Challenges Power Demand Forecasts

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Southern Company (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SO#NYSE">SO</a>) shares are trading lower on Thursday after the company reported&nbsp;fourth-quarter&nbsp;operating revenue&nbsp;growth of&nbsp;4.9% year over year to&nbsp;$6.34 billion,&nbsp;beating&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/25/02/n43844843/southern-company-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2024-earnings" rel="noreferrer noopener">the consensus of&nbsp;$5.88 billion</a>.&nbsp;
Operating revenues by segment: Alabama Power&nbsp;$1.751 billion&nbsp;(+7.4% Y/Y), Georgia Power&nbsp;$2.586 billion&nbsp;(+11.8%&nbsp;Y/Y), Mississippi Power&nbsp;$345 million&nbsp;(+2.4% Y/Y), Southern Power&nbsp;$417 million&nbsp;(-17.1% Y/Y) and Southern&nbsp;Company Gas&nbsp;$1.236 billion&nbsp;(-3.8% Y/Y).
Kilowatt-Hour Sales rose by&nbsp;2.7%, with Retail sales up&nbsp;2.8% and Wholesale sales up&nbsp;2.5% Y/Y.
In particular,&nbsp;kilowatt-Hour&nbsp;retail sales benefitted from growth in commercial (+4.4% Y/Y), Industrial (+2.0% Y/Y), and residential (+1.9% Y/Y) businesses.&nbsp;
Total Regulated&nbsp;Utility Customers increased&nbsp;0.8%, with Total Traditional Electric&nbsp;rising 1.4% and Southern Company Gas&nbsp;increasing +0.3% Y/Y.&nbsp;
Operating expenses rose to $5.28 billion from $4.84 billion in the quarter. Adjusted EPS of 50 cents <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/calendars/earnings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">missed the consensus of 51 cents.</a>
For the full year 2024, adjusted EPS rose to $4.05 from $3.65&nbsp;in 2023, mainly driven by increased utility revenues, partially negated by a rise in non-fuel operations and maintenance expenses, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, and income taxes.
Investors can gain exposure to the stock via&nbsp;SPDR Select Sector Fund – Utilities&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XLU#NYSE">XLU</a>) and&nbsp;Fidelity MSCI Utilities Index ETF (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/FUTY#NYSE">FUTY</a>).
Price Action: SO shares are down 0.77% at $85.82 at the last check Thursday.
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Photo via Shutterstock.

Southern (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SO#NYSE">SO</a>) reported quarterly earnings of $0.50 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $0.51 by 1.96 percent. This is a 21.88 percent decrease over earnings of $0.64 per share from the same period last year. The company reported quarterly sales of $6.30 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $5.88 billion by 7.14 percent. This is a 4.22 percent increase over sales of $6.04 billion the same period last year.

Earnings Beats

Earnings Misses

Southern Q4 2024 Adj EPS $0.50 Misses $0.51 Estimate, Sales $6.30B Beat $5.88B Estimate

U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday after another session of scaling fresh records on Wednesday. Futures of all four benchmark indices declined in the premarket.
Wednesday's Federal Reserve minutes showed officials favored pausing rate cuts, citing potential inflation from Trump&#8217;s tariffs and deportations. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced an 8% reduction in military spending over the next five years, which led to the fall in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PLTR#NASDAQ">PLTR</a>) stock.
The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.52%, while the two-year yield was at 4.26%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch <a href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html">tool</a>, there is a 97.5% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting. 
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<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Futures</td>
<td>Change (+/-)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nasdaq 100</td>
<td>-0.16%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>S&amp;P 500</td>
<td>-0.15%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dow Jones</td>
<td>-0.10%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Russell 2000</td>
<td>-0.22%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</figure>
The SPDR S&amp;P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SPY#NYSE">SPY</a>) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/QQQ#NASDAQ">QQQ</a>), which track the S&amp;P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell in premarket on Thursday. SPY declined 0.15% to $612.03, and QQQ was down 0.16% to $538.64, according to <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard">Benzinga Pro</a> data.
Cues From The Last Session
Only Financials and Materials declined among all the 11 sectors, whereas Health Care, Consumer Staples, Energy, Utilities, and Real Estate sectors led gains.
January&#8217;s Fed minutes revealed officials felt they could pause rate adjustments, needing more inflation progress and time to assess the economy.
Last week saw positive momentum across equity markets. The S&amp;P 500 was approximately up 1.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.6% last week.
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<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Index</td>
<td>Performance (+/-)</td>
<td>Value</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nasdaq Composite</td>
<td>0.075%</td>
<td>20,056.25 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>S&amp;P 500</td>
<td>0.24%</td>
<td>6,144.15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dow Jones</td>
<td>0.16%</td>
<td>44,627.59</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Russell 2000</td>
<td>-0.34%</td>
<td>2,282.46</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</figure>
Insights From Analysts
Highlighting the back-to-back all-time highs scaled by the S&amp;P 5000, Kevin Gordon, director, and senior investment strategist at Schwab said, &#8220;The last two all-time highs for the S&amp;P 500 have happened without major help from the Magnificent Seven."
&#8220;That group&#8217;s last all-time high was in mid-December.&#8221;
Talking about the upcoming Walmart Inc. earnings, Alex Coffey, senior trading and derivatives strategist at Schwab said, &#8220;Walmart&#8217;s strong grocery and consumer staples mix allows consumers to trade down."
&#8220;Tariffs could hit margins, but groceries and staples could give Walmart some resiliency against competitors,&#8221; he added.
Charlie Bilello, the chief market strategist at Creative Planning highlighted that U.S. stocks have outperformed international stocks for over 16 years but this year, the international stocks were up 7.2% as compared to a 4.0% gain for the S&amp;P 500.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">US stocks have outperformed International stocks for over 16 years, by far the longest run of outperformance in history. So far this year, we&#39;re seeing the opposite, with International stocks up 7.2% vs. a 4.0% gain for the S&amp;P 500. Video: <a href="https://t.co/gl3vzKh3W0">https://t.co/gl3vzKh3W0</a> <a href="https://t.co/zAvUsKKnKW">pic.twitter.com/zAvUsKKnKW</a>
&mdash; Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1891895455732334902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
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The fourth quarter corporate earnings season shows the mega-cap tech companies driving the AI buildout are largely sticking with their AI capex, even after the DeepSeek news, BlackRock said in their weekly note.
"In the U.S., where AI is shaping up to be a key driver of new power demand, estimates of the scale of the nation's total power needs are huge and growing," it added.
Extreme heat driving air conditioning use, electrification of buildings and vehicles, and AI buildout could drive power demands, according to analysts at BlackRock.
"We see soaring power demand driving bouts of market volatility. We get active to find investment opportunities – like in utilities, grids and electrical equipment supply chains – and value selectivity as performance dispersion grows," the note stated.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/how-to-trade-futures">How to Trade Futures </a>
Upcoming Economic Data
Here&#8217;s what investors will keep On Thursday:
<ul>
<li>Initial jobless claims till Feb. 15 will be announced and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey for Feb will be out by 8:30 a.m., ET.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will be speaking at 09:35 a.m., ET.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>January&#8217;s leading economic indicators will be released at 10:00 a.m., ET.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr will speak again at 2:30 p.m., ET.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Fed Governor Adriana Kugler will be speaking at 5:00 p.m., ET.</li>
</ul>
Stocks In Focus:
<ul>
<li>Walmart Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/WMT#NYSE">WMT</a>) declined 0.49% in premarket on Thursday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 64 cents per share on revenue of $180.25 billion.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Block Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XYZ#NYSE">XYZ</a>) fell 0.024% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of 86 cents per share on revenue of $6.25 billion. before the opening bell.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Southern Co. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SO#NYSE">SO</a>) was up 0.012% ahead of its earnings, which will be released during market hours. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 51 cents per share on revenue of $5.9 billion.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/RIVN#NASDAQ">RIVN</a>) fell 0.72% as Wall Street expects it to report revenue of $1.4 billion after the closing bell.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Xos Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XOS#NASDAQ">XOS</a>) jumped 27.08% after announcing that its Xos Hub, a mobile EV charger, is now on the GSA Schedule, simplifying federal agency procurement via GSA Advantage.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Microvision Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MVIS#NASDAQ">MVIS</a>) rallied 16.57% before partner Luxoft&#8217;s CES 2025 product reveal. Luxoft is a DXC Technology Co. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/DXC#NYSE">DXC</a>) subsidiary.</li>
</ul>
Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.26% to hover around $72.29 per barrel.
The gold spot index was up by 0.63% to $2,951.94 per ounce after hitting a fresh record of $2,954.89. The Dollar Index was down 0.27% at 106.88 level.
Asian markets ended lower on Thursday. All indices including, China's CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi, Australia's ASX 200, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell. European markets were mixed in trade.
Read Next:
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<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/25/02/43839198/reduce-deficits-and-debt-full-stop-says-this-economist-as-trump-mulls-doge-dividend-by-giving-away-20-of-its-savings-to-public">&#8216;Reduce Deficits And Debt… Full Stop,&#8217; Says Craig Shapiro As Trump Mulls &#8216;DOGE Dividend&#8217; By Giving Away 20% Of Its Savings To Public</a></li>
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